Yeager breaks sound barrier - Oct 14, 1947 - HISTORY.com Yeager breaks sound barrier Publisher A+E Networks U.S. Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager becomes the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound. Yeager, born in Myra, West Virginia, in 1923, was a combat fighter during World War II and flew 64 missions over Europe. He shot down 13 German planes and was himself shot down over France, but he escaped capture with the assistance of the French Underground. After the war, he was among several volunteers chosen to test-fly the experimental X-1 rocket plane, built by the Bell Aircraft Company to explore the possibility of supersonic flight. For years, many aviators believed that man was not meant to fly faster than the speed of sound, theorizing that transonic drag rise would tear any aircraft apart. All that changed on October 14, 1947, when Yeager flew the X-1 over Rogers Dry Lake in Southern California.

The X-1 was lifted to an altitude of 25,000 feet by a B-29 aircraft and then released through the bomb bay, rocketing to 40,000 feet and exceeding 662 miles per hour (the sound barrier at that altitude). The rocket plane, nicknamed “Glamorous Glennis,” was designed with thin, unswept wings and a streamlined fuselage modeled after a .50-caliber bullet. Because of the secrecy of the project, Bell and Yeager’s achievement was not announced until June 1948. Yeager continued to serve as a test pilot, and in 1953 he flew 1,650 miles per hour in an X-1A rocket plane. He retired from the U.S. Air Force in 1975 with the rank of brigadier general. Related Videos 1000+ images about Bell X-1 on Pinterest | Models, Top models and Air force Forward Chuck Yeager the Bell X-1. When Chuck Yeager strapped himself into the cockpit of the Bell X-1, hanging in the belly of a B-29, there were many who felt that he wouldn't return alive.

Several men before him had died attempting to break the sound barrier. See More The Bell X-1 and Breaking the Sound Barrier Ceiling: 90,000 ft. Bell X-1 Design & Development: Development of the Bell X-1 began in the waning days of World War II as the interest in transonic flight increased. Initially contacted by the US Army Air Force and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA - now NASA) on March 16, 1945, Bell Aircraft began designing an experimental aircraft dubbed the XS-1 (Experimental, Supersonic). In seeking inspiration for their new aircraft, the engineers at Bell elected use a shape similar to a Browning .50-caliber bullet. This was done as it was known that this round was stable in supersonic flight. Pressing forward, they added short, highly-reinforced wings as well as a movable horizontal tailplane. This latter feature was included to give the pilot increased control at high speeds and later became a standard feature on American aircraft capable of transonic speeds. In the interest of retaining the sleek, bullet shape, Bell's designers elected to use a sloped windscreen in lieu of a more traditional canopy.

As a result, the pilot entered and exited the aircraft through a hatch in the side. To power the aircraft, Bell selected an XLR-11 rocket engine capable of around 4-5 minutes of powered flight. Bell X-1 Program: Never intended for production, Bell constructed three X-1s for the USAAF and NACA. The first began glide flights over Pinecastle Army Airfield on January 25, 1946. Flown by Bell's chief test pilot, Jack Woolams, the aircraft made nine glide flights before being returned to Bell for modifications. Following Woolam's death during practice for the National Air Races, the X-1 moved to Muroc Army Air Field (Edwards Air Force Base) to begin powered test flights. As the X-1 was not capable of taking off on its own, it was carried aloft by a modified B-29 Superfortress . With Bell test pilot Chalmers "Slick" Goodlin at the controls, the X-1 made 26 flights between September 1946 and June 1947. During these tests, Bell took a very conservative approach, only increasing speed by 0.02 Mach per flight.

Dismayed by Bell's slow progress towards breaking the sound barrier, the USAAF took over the program on June 24, 1947, after Goodlin demanded a $150,000 bonus for achieving Mach 1 and hazard pay for every second spent over 0.85 Mach. Removing Goodlin, the Army Air Force Flight Test Division assigned Captain Charles "Chuck" Yeager to the project. Familiarizing himself with the aircraft Yeager made several test flights in the X-1 and steadily pushed the aircraft towards the sound barrier. On October 14, 1947, less than a month after the US Air Force became a separate service, Yeager broke the sound barrier while flying X-1-1 (serial #46-062). Dubbing his plane "Glamorous Glennis" in honor of his wife, Yeager achieved a speed of Mach 1.06 (807.2 mph) at 43,000 feet.

A publicity boon for the new service, Yeager, Larry Bell (Bell Aircraft), and John Stack (NACA) were awarded with the 1947 Collier Trophy by the National Aeronautics Association. Yeager continued with the program and made 28 more flights in "Glamorous Glennis." The most notable of these was on March 26, 1948, when he reached a speed of Mach 1.45 (957 mph). With the success of the X-1 program, the USAF worked with Bell to build modified versions of the aircraft. The first of these, the X-1A, was intended to test aerodynamic phenomena at speeds above Mach 2. First flying in 1953, Yeager piloted one to a new record speed of Mach 2.44 (1,620 mph) on December 12 of that year. This flight broke the mark (Mach 2.005) set by Scott Crossfield in the Douglas Skyrocket on November 20. In 1954, the X-1B began flight testing.

Similar to the X-1A, the B variant possessed a modified wing and was used for high speed testing until it was turned over to NACA. In this new role, it was used until 1958. Among the technology tested on the X-1B was a directional rocket system that was later incorporated into the X-15. Designs were created for the X-1C and X-1D, however the former was never built and the latter, meant for use in heat transfer research, only made one flight. The first radical change to the X-1 design came with the creation of the X-1E. Constructed from one of the original X-1s, the X-1E featured a knife-edge windscreen, new fuel system, a re-profiled wing, and enhanced data collection equipment. First flying in 1955, with USAF test pilot Joe Walker at the controls, the aircraft flew until 1958. During its final five flights it was piloted by NACA research pilot John B. McKay who was attempting to break Mach 3. The grounding of the X-1E in November 1958, brought the X-1 program to a close.

In its thirteen-year history, the X-1 program developed the procedures that would be used in subsequent X-craft projects as well as the new US space program. Selected Sources Breaking the Sound Barrier | The Greatest Moments in Flight Breaking the Sound Barrier | The Greatest Moments in Flight By Nola Taylor Redd, Space.com Contributor | July 23, 2012 04:43pm ET MORE Chuck Yeager and the X-1 research plane that broke the sound barrier. It can be seen today at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Credit: Air Force Test Center History Office This is part of a SPACE.com series of articles on the Greatest Moments in Flight, the breakthrough events that paved the way for human spaceflight and its next steps: asteroid mining and bases on the moon and Mars. A booming thunder roared across the clear skies of the Mojave Desert on Oct. 14, 1947, as U.S. Air Force Capt. Chuck Yeager nudged an experimental rocket-powered plane faster than the speed of sound. Though only a handful of people realized it at the time, an aviation record had been set.

In 1935, a simplified explanation of the challenges of supersonic flight led to the creation of the term "sound barrier," which seemed to imply a physical wall that could not be overcome. Bullets and cannon balls had exceeded the speed of sound for hundreds of years, but the question loomed as to whether or not a plane—or a man—could withstand the pressures that accompanied it. The U.S. Air Force set out to answer this looming question. Sponsored message: The plane The Bell X-1 broke the sound barrier with Col. Chuck Yeager at the controls on Oct. 14, 1947. Credit: NASA A bullet-shaped plane, the Bell X-1 (originally designated the XS-1), was modeled after a .50 caliber machine gun bullet, an object known to be stable as it exceeded the speed of sound. Four rocket engines propelled the X-1, and it was built to absorb 18 times the force of gravity. Unlike most planes, it didn't take off from the ground, but was instead dropped from the belly of a B-29 Superfortress, rapidly accelerating in the air on only a few minutes worth of fuel before gliding back to the dry lakes below.

The historic plane, nicknamed the "Glamorous Glennis" for Yeager's wife, slowly approached the sound barrier over the course of nine flights. Muroc Air Force Base—now known as Edwards Air Force Base—in the empty southern California desert provided an ideal spot for testing a variety of experimental vehicles, including the X-1. The pilot The man who would go down as the most famous test pilot in American history was born in West Virginia on Feb. 13, 1923. Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army Air Corps at the age of 18 and served in World War II, where he flew 64 combat missions. In 1945, he was assigned as a maintenance officer to the Flight Test Division at Wright Field, Ohio, flight-testing the planes. Col. Albert Boyd, in charge of the test program for the Air Force, invited him to become a test pilot, and Yeager accepted, transferring to Muroc to enroll in the Flight Performance School. It was there that Yeager was selected to be the first person to attempt to exceed the speed of sound.

The flight Yeager's first test launch of the Glamorous Glennis took place on Aug. 29, 1947, with subsequent attempts increasing speed by two hundredths of a Mach number. Mach is a unit of measuring the speed of sound in a given medium; a plane traveling at .2 Mach moves at only two-tenths the speed of sound, while Mach 1 is equal to it. (The speed of sound is about 758 miles (1,220 kilometers) per hour at sea level, and decreases with altitude.) Reaching .86 Mach on the sixth flight, the X-1 began to experience turbulence from the shock wave formed by the compression of the air. On the seventh flight, at Mach .94, Yeager lost the ability to control the plane's elevator, a problem since the shock waves caused the nose to pitch up and down. He cut the engines, dumped the fuel, and landed safely in the desert. Another pilot suggested using the horizontal stabilizer to correct the problem, and on-the-ground tests seemed to suggest the alternate method of control would work. Two days before his historic flight, Yeager was thrown from a horse while riding with his wife and broke two ribs.

Knowing that he would never be allowed to fly, he traveled to a doctor off base and had them taped up. Unable to close and latch the side door by hand, he utilized a broom handle at the suggestion of a fellow pilot. On Oct. 14, 1947, Yeager and the X-1 were dropped from the B-29, and quickly accelerated away. When the controls locked up, he successfully used the horizontal stabilizer to keep the plane stable. As the plane accelerated to Mach 1.06, controllers on the ground heard the first sonic boom . (The end of a bullwhip moves faster than the speed of sound. Some say the "crack" is a small sonic boom.) After exceeding the speed of sound, the buffeting decreased, creating a smooth short flight. The plane remained supersonic for approximately 20 seconds before Yeager turned off two of the four engines and slowly decelerated. The follow-up Chuck Yeager continued to act as a flight consultant for the air force until his last flight on October 14, 1997.

Credit: Air Force Test Center History Office Yeager continued to fly experimental aircraft for the Air Force, and was appointed director of the Space School, NASA's precursor, where he trained astronauts to prepare for launch. He flew more than 120 combat missions in Vietnam. After 34 years in the military, he retired in 1975 at the rank of brigadier general, though he continued to serve as a consultant. His last flight as a military consultant occurred 50 years to the day after he broke the sound barrier. In 1979, Tom Wolfe's best-selling nonfiction book, The Right Stuff, and the subsequent 1983 movie popularized Yeager's exploits to a generation too young to remember them. Yeager and his wife, Glennis, had four children before her death in 1990. He remarried in 2003. —Nola Taylor Redd Aerospaceweb.org | Aircraft Museum - X-1 X-1 High-Speed Research Aircraft DESCRIPTION: The Bell X-1 is one of the most significant test aircraft in history since it was the first plane to conclusively break the sound barrier.

The X-1 project began in 1944 when the US Army Air Force (USAAF) and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) agreed on a joint program to investigate the possibility of supersonic flight. The feasibility of flight above Mach 1 depended on the development of powerful rocket engines and new materials to counter the heat generated by friction encountered at high speeds. A contract was soon awarded to Bell for the construction of three XS-1 (experimental supersonic - 1) aircraft, though the 'S' portion of the designation was later dropped. The fuselage was patterned after a .50 caliber bullet to reduce drag. The portly shape also provided significant internal volume for a powerful rocket motor, fuel, and data collection equipment. Though the X-1 had originally been designed for conventional takeoffs, all flights but one were carried aloft by a B-29 or B-50 Superfortress mother plane. The X-1 was lifted to an altitude of 20,000 ft (6,100 m) before being released to ignite its rocket engines. This technique was advantageous since it improved safety in ground operations and also vastly increased the aircraft's performance.

The flight test program began with a few test glides and powered flights, but the most important flight of the X-1 came on 14 October 1947. It was on this date that Capt. Charles Yeager became the first pilot to break the "sound barrier" when he reached Mach 1.06 at 43,000 ft (13,120 m) over the Mojave Desert near Muroc Dry Lake, California. A few days later, the X-1-1 also set an altitude record by reaching 71,900 ft (21,935 m). Following the loss of the X-1-3 in a ground accident, NASA ordered a further three examples called the X-1A, X-1B, and X-1D to explore flight at Mach 2. Chuck Yeager set a new speed record of Mach 2.44 aboard the X-1A in 1953, but both this model and the X-1D were lost following propulsion explosions. Despite these dangers, the X-1-2 was rebuilt as the X-1E to conduct further experiments at Mach 2 and beyond.

This model became one of the fastest and highest flying of the series thanks to its reduced weight and drag. The X-1 program was completed in 1958, but its impact on aviation history is considerable. The three surviving X-1 models, including the historic X-1-1, have been preserved at sites across the country.

Data below for X-1-1 Last modified 27 September 2009 HISTORY: First Flight 19 January 1946 [unpowered glide] 9 December 1946 [powered flight] CREW: one: pilot AIRFOIL SECTIONS: Wing Root (X-1-1) NACA 65-110 (X-1-2) NACA 65-108 (X-1E) NACA 64A004 Wing Tip (X-1-1) NACA 65-110 (X-1-2) NACA 65-108 (X-1E) NACA 64A004 DIMENSIONS: Length 31.00 ft (9.45 m) Wingspan 28.00 ft (8.53 m) Height 10.85 ft (3.31 m) Wing Area 130.0 ft� (12.01 m�) Canard Area not applicable WEIGHTS: Empty 4,890 lb (2,220 kg) Normal Takeoff 1

2,225 lb (5,545 kg) Max Takeoff 13,400 lb (6,080 kg) Fuel Capacity internal: unknown external: unknown Max Payload unknown PROPULSION: Powerplant one Reaction Motors XLR11-RM3 rocket motor Thrust 6,000 lb (26.69 kN) PERFORMANCE: Max Level Speed at altitude: 955 mph (1,540 km/h) at 40,130 ft (12,245 m), Mach 1.45 at sea level: unknown Initial Climb Rate unknown Service Ceiling 71,900 ft (21,935 m) Range unknown g-Limits unknown KNOWN VARIANTS: XS-1 (later X-1) Original designation for series of joint US Army Air Force and NACA research aircraft to explore supersonic flight (hence the 'S' designation) X-1-1 First X-1 completed and made the first unpowered flight of the program, was also the first aircraft to exceed Mach 1 on 14 October 1947 with Capt.

Charles Yeager as pilot, also completed the only runway takeoff of the X-1 program, completed 82 flights and is now on display at the National Air & Space Museum X-1-2 Second example built and flew the first powered flight, completed 74 flights X-1-3 Third X-1 built but completed three years late due to propulsion development problems, exploded during ground operations and was destroyed along with its B-50 mothership X-1A Modified X-1 design with a more traditional cockpit canopy, lengthened fuselage for increased fuel capacity, and improved fuel pumps; set a speed record of Mach 2.435 on 12 December 1953 and an altitude record of 90,440 ft (27,590 m) in June 1954 but was lost when an in-flight explosion forced the mothership to jettison the craft; completed 29 flights X-1B Equipped with aerodynamic heating instrumentation for thermal research, completed 27 flights and is now on display at the Alabama Space and Rocket Center at Huntsville X-1C Cancelled X-1D Final model built but was lost when it had to be j

ettisoned from its B-50 mothership following a propulsion explosion X-1E X-1-2 model rebuilt with an improved cockpit canopy, new 4% thick high-speed wing, and rocket-assisted ejection seat; achieved Mach 2.24 and a maximum altitude of 75,000 ft (22,880 m), completed 26 flights and is now on display at Edwards Air Force Base KNOWN OPERATORS: United States (US Army Air Force) United States (US Air Force) United States (NASA) Chuck Yeager retraces history in the sky, breaking the sound barrier -- again - CNN.com Chuck Yeager retraces history in the sky, breaking the sound barrier -- again By the CNN Wire Staff Updated 11:54 AM ET, Mon October 15, 2012 Chat with us in Facebook Messenger.

Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds. JUST WATCHED Chuck Yeager re-enacts milestone 02:37 Story highlights Chuck Yeager was the first test pilot to break the sound barrier In 1947, he flew past Mach 1 after being dropped from a B-29 bomber at 45,000 feet Yeager said he "laid down a pretty good sonic boom" over Edwards Air Force Base Chuck Yeager retraced history on Sunday, 65 years to the minute, as the first test pilot to break the sound barrier, taking to the skies once again to fly faster than the speed of sound. The 89-year-old Yeager broke the sound barrier in a U.S. Air Force F-15 at 10:24 a.m. over the Mojave Desert, the same location where he first flew past Mach 1 on October 14, 1947, the military said in a statement. Yeager, flying in the F-15 with an Air Force captain, told CNN late Sunday that he hit Mach 1.3 and "laid down a pretty good sonic boom over Edwards" Air Force Base.

Yeager's reenactment of his historic flight came the same day that Austrian Felix Baumgartner became the first person to break the sound barrier as a skydiver, jumping from a balloon at the edge of space to make the 23-mile journey. While Yeager's sound-breaking flight was news in military and aircraft manufacturing circles, his popularity soared when Tom Wolfe detailed Yeager's flight in the book "The Right Stuff" and its subsequent film adaptation. "I really appreciated the Air Force giving me a brand new F-15 to fly," Yeager told CNN. Today, fighter jets can easily break the sound barrier. In fact, Yeager's flight Sunday did it at an altitude of about 33,000 feet, according to a statement provided by the Air Force. But in 1947, the golden age of flight, Yeager was dropped in an experimental rocket-propelled Bell X1 jet from a B-29 bomber at an altitude of 45,000 feet. "That's the only way we could do it," he said. "It took the British, French and the Soviet Union another five years to find out that trick.

It gave us a quantum jump" in aviation advancement, he said. On Sunday, Yeager took off from Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas in the second seat, the one behind the pilot, though he said he was flying the F-15 when it broke the sound barrier over Edwards. "We had to keep it below Mach 1.4. If you want to go Mach 2, you start breaking glasses and cracking roofs," he said. But Yeager hardly sounded disappointed. His final aerial move, he told CNN, was a fly-by, buzzing the tower, at Nellis. For The First Time (or the last time): 1947: first man to break the sound barrier1953: first woman to break the sound barrier 1947: first man to break the sound barrier 1953: first woman to break the sound barrier The first man to break the "sound barrier" was Capt. Charles E. ("Chuck") Yeager, of the US Air Force. He reached this milestone of aviation history in 1947 over the test ranges at Muroc Field in California, now known as Edwards Air Force Base.

Yeager accomplished this feat while flying the first Bell XS-1. Later renamed the X-1, this vehicle was a rocket-powered high-speed research aircraft. The first woman to fly faster than Mach 1 was Jacqueline ("Jackie") Cochran, one of the pioneering women of aeronautics. Jackie originally worked in the cosmetics industry and was encouraged to pursue a pilot's license by her husband in order to travel more efficiently. Cochran managed to complete her pilot training in 1932 in just three weeks! She quickly realized that flying was her passion and set about becoming one of the most accomplished pilots in history. Jackie was the first woman to win the Bendix Race in 1938 and also set several aviation records before 1940, including three speed records and a world altitude record. Jackie's successes allowed her to become an accomplished test pilot setting many more firsts. As World War II approached, Cochran worked to encourage more women to join the war effort. The British Ferry Command hired Cochran to recruit women to fly planes from factories in the US to bases the UK, and she became the first woman to fly a military bomber on a transatlantic flight in 1941.

Jackie convinced Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin Roosevelt, to support efforts encouraging greater participation of women in defense positions. In 1943, Cochran was named director of the Women's Air Force Service Pilots (WASP). WASPs proved vital to the war effort, and Cochran helped to train over a thousand auxiliary pilots for the military services. After the war, Cochran was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for her contributions. Jackie remained committed to the defense effort after the war and earned the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserves. She continued to pursue her passion for flying and became a close friend of Chuck Yeager. Yeager helped Cochran make the transition to jet-powered aircraft, and she wasted little time setting new records. In 1953, Jackie flew an F-86 Sabre past Mach 1 becoming the first woman to break the sound barrier. She went on to set a world speed record of 1,429 mph in 1964 and no fewer than eight speed records in 1967 when she was over 60 years old. An interesting historical sidebar concerns the term "sound barrier." When a British aerodynamicist named W. F.

Hilton was interviewed on his high-speed experimental work, he was quoted as describing "how the resistance of a wing shoots up like a barrier against high speed as we approach the speed of sound." The newspapers of the period misconstrued his statement to mean that there was some sort of physical barrier to travel at or beyond the speed of sound, so no aircraft would ever be able to reach those speeds. In addition, there was some theoretical work done that had indicated the pressures generated on a body as it neared Mach 1 would go to infinity, and the drag would therefore be so great that no aircraft could pass through the barrier. However, these equations turned out to be based of faulty assumptions that were not valid at transonic speeds. Indeed, engineers had known for many years that the speed of sound could be passed simply because cannon balls and bullets were known to pass through the sound barrier as far back as Isaac Newton's day. The key to finally reaching Mach 1 was simply developing ways of minimizing the increase in wave drag at transonic speeds, developing engines with enough power, and understanding the effect of shock waves on wings and control surfaces so that control problems could be avoided.

The shape of the fuselage on the X-1 research plane had been designed to resemble a .50 caliber bullet since this object was known to exceed Mach 1. Other projectiles, like shells and cannon balls, had also been able to travel faster than the speed of sound for many years. However, it is not known for sure when the earliest projectile exceeded the speed of sound or when guns and cannons might have become powerful enough to accelerate an object to such speeds. Regardless, another object that has been around far longer than gun-launched projectiles was probably the first manmade object to exceed the speed of sound. Believe it or not, this object is a whip. As the whip's user snaps his wrist back and forth, it sends a wave down the length of the whip that accelerates the tip to very high speeds. This speed can grow fast enough to exceed the speed of sound, particularly if the whip is relatively long. Whips are known for the distinctive cracking noise they make as the move through the air. This crackling is actually the result of a miniature sonic boom being created by the tip as it travels faster than Mach 1.

(info from Aerospaceweb) Posted by How a Human First Broke the Sound Barrier | Motherboard Captain Chuck Yeager sitting in the Bell X-1 cockpit. Image: Wikimedia How a Human First Broke the Sound Barrier Written by October 15, 2014 // 11:30 AM EDT Copy This URL Before October 14, 1947, the general belief was that humans were simply not capable of traveling faster than approximately 343.2 meters per second , or Mach 1. Hence the term, born sometime a decade earlier: "the sound barrier." A bullet or a cannon ball? Sure. But, it was thought, the transonic drag would cause severe instability to an airplane, and probably rip it and its pilot to shreds. The experimental aircraft piloted on that day by 24-year-old Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager, however, was designed specifically to test this theory. The Bell X-1 —nicknamed Glamorous Glennis, after Yeager's wife—had four rocket engines, thin, upswept wings, and a nose modeled after a .50 caliber bullet .

Whereas fighter aircraft of the time were built to withstand 12 times the force of gravity, this was built to absorb 18 Gs. It wasn't, however, designed for control. The Bell X-1 rocket, in a cutaway by NACA, the predecessor to NASA. The airplane now hangs in the Smithsonian. Image: NASA “Basically the X-1 was a pure rocket," Yeager told NOVA in 1997. "It burned liquid oxygen and a mixture of five parts alcohol to one part water. You know, we'd been fooling around with jets. Jet engines didn't have the thrust to push the airplane into the region of the speed of sound or beyond.” He explained that the X-1 could only hold enough rocket fuel for two and a half minutes of flight. Thus, it had to be taken into the air by a B-29 Superfortress and dropped into flight, at which point the rockets could fire and then burn out, and the plane would glide to safety on the desert floor. But as with most experimental planes, safety was iffy. Col. Albert Boyd, in charge of the US Air Force's test pilots, originally sought a pilot who had no dependents.

"I said, 'Yeah, I'm married and I, I've got a little boy, and I, I think that makes me more careful,'" Yeager said. "And that worked out. He said, 'Well, OK, be careful.'" "I gave no thought to the outcome of whether the airplane would blow up or something would happen to me," Yeager said. "It wasn't my job to think about that. It was my job to do the flying." Yeager's flight as depicted in "The Right Stuff" (1983) Two nights before the flight, however, Yeager fell from a horse and broke two of his ribs. He was so worried about being removed from the mission that he forewent a doctor and instead visited a veterinarian in a nearby town for treatment. He kept the accident from his superiors and only told his wife and his friend and fellow project pilot Jack Ridley. On the morning of the flight, Yeager was in such pain that he was unable to close the X-1's hatch by himself. So Ridley left a broken-off broom handle in the cockpit , which allowed Yeager to seal the hatch. "Hey Ridley!" Yeager said into the radio. "Make another note.

There's something wrong with this Machmeter. It's gone completely screwy!" Yeager and his plane were dropped from the Superfortress at 20,000 feet. At first, he stalled, but gained enough speed to get lift, and then switched on his rockets in sequence, accelerating to 0.88 Mach. The plane started shaking; the controls locked up momentarily. Yeager used the horizontal stabilizer, deactivated two of his rockets, and regained control. He fired the two rockets again, and, at over 42,000 feet, catapulted himself to a speed of 700 miles per hour, or 1,127 kpm. The needle on his Machmeter pushed past "1" and off the scale. For about 20 seconds, Yeager enjoyed smooth supersonic flight at what was recorded as Mach 1.06. "There was no buffet, no jolt, no shock," he wrote later . "Above all, no brick wall to smash into. I was alive." He wanted to tell someone, anyone, that he'd just pierced the sound barrier. But to maintain secrecy, transmissions were restricted. "Hey Ridley!" he recalled saying into the radio.

"Make another note. There's something wrong with this Machmeter. It's gone completely screwy!" Ridley understood. "If it is, we'll fix it," he replied. "'But personally, I think you're seeing things." To observers on the ground, the loud "ba-boom" sound that the X-1 made—a sonic boom—was the sound of the plane catching up with the sound waves it was emitting. Imagine these sound waves "piling up" in front of the aircraft as it accelerated; once it outran them, the resulting change in pressure was heard by those listening on the ground as an explosion , echoing across the California desert. (The intense build-up of pressures at this speed also creates clouds of water vapor around the wings.) A newsreel from 1948 The news of Yeager's flight was kept secret until June, 1948. But once word got out, the race was on to find a new breed of men ready to travel by rocket, a mission dramatized by Tom Wolfe in his 1979 book The Right Stuff .

Yeager (portrayed by Sam Shepard in the 1983 film version of the book, and who had a cameo role as a bartender named Fred) would not join the group of test pilots who would become NASA's first astronauts, but he would break all sorts of other aviation records. Meanwhile, speculation mounted that the barrier had already been busted by a manned flight earlier—by Air Force pilot George Welch during a high-speed dive , or by a test pilot in Nazi Germany . But Yeager's sonic boom was thought by the few people within earshot to be the first with a human attached to it. Many speed demons would follow "the world's first supersonic man." The racing pilot Jackie Cochran was the first woman to break the sound barrier on May 18, 1953, in a Canadair Sabre, with Yeager as her wingman. As supersonic flight became more widely understood, the notion of "the sound barrier" continued to fade. Swept wings, aerodynamic design, and engines of ever-increasing performance would mean that many combat aircraft of the 1950s could routinely break the sound barrier in level flight, though not without some difficulty.

Supersonic flight is now relatively straight-forward for modern fighter jets, but attempts to bring Mach 1 to commercial flight have not been as successful. The Concorde, introduced in the 1970s, would be retired in 2003. It's also thought that a China Airlines 747 may have broken the sound barrier in an unplanned descent from 41,000 ft to 9,500 ft after an "in-flight upset" in 1985. Land vehicles can also surpass Mach 1. On October 15, 1997—50 years and one day after Yeager's first supersonic flight—a rocket car called the ThrustSSC , for "Super Sonic Car," was the first, officially. And in 2012, 65 years to the day after Yeager's record-setting flight, Felix Baumgartner would be the first human to break the sound barrier with his own body in his famous 840 mph Redbull-sponsored freefall . (Though Joe Kittinger may have beaten him to that title decades earlier .) An FA-18 Hornet as it breaks the sound barrier.

The vapor cloud is the result of low-pressure regions generated by the aircraft's wings just prior to Mach 1. Image: Kevin Dickert / CC That same day, in Nevada, an 89-year-old Yeager, now an Air Force General, climbed into the backseat of an F-15 Eagle—nicknamed Glamorous Glennis III—and passed Mach 1 at more than 30,000 feet over California's Mojave Desert. Yeager reportedly flew the plane during take-off and landing. It was his last official Air Force flight. Afterwards, when reporters asked what he made of Baumgartner's feat, he said he hadn't heard about it. A young girl asked him if he was scared. Yeager joked, "Yeah, I was scared to death." Sound barrier pioneer celebrates 65 years > U.S. Air Force > Article Display DOWNLOAD HI-RES / PHOTO DETAILS Retired Brig. Gen. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager prepares to board an F-15D Eagle from the 65th Aggressor Squadron Oct. 14, 2012, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. In a jet piloted by Capt.

David Vincent, 65th AGRS pilot, Yeager is commemorating the 65th anniversary of his historic breaking of the sound barrier flight Oct. 14, 1947, in the Bell X-1 rocket research plane named "Glamorous Glennis." Yeager was awarded the prestigious Collier Trophy in 1948 for this landmark aeronautical achievement. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Jason W. Edwards) 2 of 7 DOWNLOAD HI-RES / PHOTO DETAILS Retired Brig. Gen. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager and Capt. David Vincent, 65th Aggressor Squadron pilot, taxi to the active runway in an F-15D Eagle Oct. 14, 2012, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. Yeager and Vincent commemorated the 65th anniversary of breaking of the sound barrier by flying from Las Vegas to Edwards AFB in southern California. (U.S. Air Force photo/Lawrence Crespo) 3 of 7 DOWNLOAD HI-RES / PHOTO DETAILS Retired Brig. Gen. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager and Capt.

David Vincent, 65th Aggressor Squadron pilot, taxi in under water fired from 99th Civil Engineer Squadron Fire Department trucks after the commemorative flight for the 65th anniversary of Yeager's breaking of the sound barrier Oct. 14, 2012, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. Yeager was the first pilot to travel faster than sound in the Bell X-1 rocket research plane named "Glamorous Glennis." (U.S. Air Force photo/Lawrence Crespo) 4 of 7 DOWNLOAD HI-RES / PHOTO DETAILS Retired Brig. Gen. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager is assisted in the cockpit of an F-15D Eagle by by Senior Airman Anthony Ewing, 757th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron dedicated crew chief, Oct. 14, 2012, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. Yeager was commemorating the 65th anniversary of his breaking of the sound barrier by flying with the 65th Aggressor Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo/Lawrence Crespo) 5 of 7 DOWNLOAD HI-RES / PHOTO DETAILS Retired Brig. Gen. Charles E.

"Chuck" Yeager and Capt. David Vincent, 65th Aggressor Squadron pilot, walk to an F-15D Eagle Oct. 14, 2012, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. Yeager and Vincent commemorated the 65th anniversary of breaking of the sound barrier by flying from Las Vegas to Edwards AFB in southern California. (U.S. Air Force photo/Lawrence Crespo) 6 of 7 DOWNLOAD HI-RES / PHOTO DETAILS Retired Brig. Gen. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager poses for photographers after returning from his 65th anniversary of breaking the sound barrier flight aboard a 65th Aggressor Squadron F-15D Eagle piloted by Capt. David Vincent, 65th AGRS, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Oct. 14, 2012. Yeager became the first man to break the sound barrier Oct. 14, 1947, over Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. (U.S. Air Force photo/ Lawrence Crespo) 7 of 7 DOWNLOAD HI-RES / PHOTO DETAILS Retired Brig. Gen. Charles E.

"Chuck" Yeager prepares to board an F-15D Eagle from the 65th Aggressor Squadron Oct. 14, 2012, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. In a jet piloted by Capt. David Vincent, 65th AGRS pilot, Yeager is commemorating the 65th anniversary of his historic breaking of the sound barrier flight Oct. 14, 1947, in the Bell X-1 rocket research plane named "Glamorous Glennis." Yeager was awarded the prestigious Collier Trophy in 1948 for this landmark aeronautical achievement. (U.S. Air Force photo/ Master Sgt. Jason W. Edwards)

Question: Which US Air Force test pilot became the first man to break the sound barrier in a Bell X-1 rocket plane in October 1947?
Answer: CHUCK YEAGER